Featured Site
Dormitory History
Explore the long history of the iconic Martha Cook Building, which opened its doors to women at U-M in 1915. Martha Cook was one of the very first dormitories at U-M, and has been a home to thousands of students.
Learn more
News
Pride & Prejudice
Learn about Jim Toy, who stood on the front lines of the gay rights movement in its earliest days. His papers showcase years of perseverance that changed Ann Arbor, and beyond.
Complete Story
Stay Connected
April Fools Day according to U-M students 100 years ago! 🕑
In 1925, the student humor magazine “The Gargoyle” published a short article titled: “Complete Day of an April Fooler.”
It included a list of pranks that an “April Fooler” would pull—ranging from relatively harmless (like replacing salt with sugar at the breakfast table) to decidedly not harmless (like creating fake candy, which was often made of soap: please don’t eat soap.)
It also included some pranks people wouldn’t ever think of today (like filling a fountain pen with water!)
Click through to see a few examples of what students in 1925 thought an April Fools` Day prankster would do, from U-M history!
You can explore historical issues of “The Gargoyle” from the archives in our reading room, and you can also find digitized versions of some early “Gargoyle” editions in the online Hathitrust Library.
“The Gargoyle,” also known affectionately as “The Garg,” is a long-running student publication, established in 1909, which is still ongoing today.
#AprilFoolsDay #100YearsAgo #UMich #StudentLife
April Fools Day according to U-M students 100 years ago! 🕑
In 1925, the student humor magazine “The Gargoyle” published a short article titled: “Complete Day of an April Fooler.”
It included a list of pranks that an “April Fooler” would pull—ranging from relatively harmless (like replacing salt with sugar at the breakfast table) to decidedly not harmless (like creating fake candy, which was often made of soap: please don’t eat soap.)
It also included some pranks people wouldn’t ever think of today (like filling a fountain pen with water!)
Click through to see a few examples of what students in 1925 thought an April Fools` Day prankster would do, from U-M history!
You can explore historical issues of “The Gargoyle” from the archives in our reading room, and you can also find digitized versions of some early “Gargoyle” editions in the online Hathitrust Library.
“The Gargoyle,” also known affectionately as “The Garg,” is a long-running student publication, established in 1909, which is still ongoing today.
#AprilFoolsDay #100YearsAgo #UMich #StudentLife
We loved sharing the history of the Martha Cook building at this recent pop-up exhibit! 💙
Bringing the archives directly to campus, Bentley Archivist Meghan Courtney and a team of student docents stopped by during afternoon tea at Martha Cook, and shared scrapbooks, photos, and more, with current students!
Students got the chance to ask questions about history, learn about the lives of historical students at Martha Cook, and even make their own scrapbooks using copies of old photos, sheet music, and newspaper clippings.
We really loved seeing how interested these students were in the history of their community, and it was so wonderful to get to share all of these materials with them!
Click through to see more photos of this pop-up event, and some snapshots of Martha Cook’s early years, from the archives.
Curious to learn more? History from the Martha Cook building can also be explored in the Bentley Historical Library`s reading room, using the Martha Cook Building records, and student history records like the A. Grace Edmonds scrapbooks!
📸: Photos of event by Austin Edmister, featuring a pop-up exhibit at Martha Cook, and the Bentley team, including student docents from the Detroit Observatory, and Associate Director for Public Engagement Meghan Courtney, alongside Bentley Director Alexis Antracoli
📸: Photos of Martha Cook history sourced from the A. Grace Edmonds scrapbooks, the U-M Photo Vertical Files, and the Martha Cook Building records
#UMich #MarthaCook #StudentLife #CampusHistory #PopUp #HistoryExhibit
We loved sharing the history of the Martha Cook building at this recent pop-up exhibit! 💙
Bringing the archives directly to campus, Bentley Archivist Meghan Courtney and a team of student docents stopped by during afternoon tea at Martha Cook, and shared scrapbooks, photos, and more, with current students!
Students got the chance to ask questions about history, learn about the lives of historical students at Martha Cook, and even make their own scrapbooks using copies of old photos, sheet music, and newspaper clippings.
We really loved seeing how interested these students were in the history of their community, and it was so wonderful to get to share all of these materials with them!
Click through to see more photos of this pop-up event, and some snapshots of Martha Cook’s early years, from the archives.
Curious to learn more? History from the Martha Cook building can also be explored in the Bentley Historical Library`s reading room, using the Martha Cook Building records, and student history records like the A. Grace Edmonds scrapbooks!
📸: Photos of event by Austin Edmister, featuring a pop-up exhibit at Martha Cook, and the Bentley team, including student docents from the Detroit Observatory, and Associate Director for Public Engagement Meghan Courtney, alongside Bentley Director Alexis Antracoli
📸: Photos of Martha Cook history sourced from the A. Grace Edmonds scrapbooks, the U-M Photo Vertical Files, and the Martha Cook Building records
#UMich #MarthaCook #StudentLife #CampusHistory #PopUp #HistoryExhibit
Did you know that U-M had a historical tradition called “Lantern Night?”
U-M’s Lantern Night traces its origins to the very first Field Day held by women at U-M, in honor of the new women’s athletic field in 1910!
That Field Day featured a picnic, an archery tournament, folk dancing, field hockey, tennis, “fancy marching” where women formed the shape of a block “M,” as well as singing, and a crackling bonfire. It was a success, according to the Michigan Daily, and quickly became an annual event!
By 1912, it also included a “grand lantern march” where women at U-M gathered to carry lanterns across Palmer Field in the evening.
Many of these aspects of Field Day appear to have stopped during World War I, but the lantern march was revived in 1919 as U-M’s official “Lantern Night,” during which women in U-M’s senior class would pass lighted lanterns to women in the junior class, symbolically “passing on the torch.”
(Women in the junior class would then pass flower-covered hoops to the sophomore class, in turn!)
Over time, Lantern Night grew to include things like a dance pageant featuring the myth of Persephone, athletic awards, and a singing competition! It was an important yearly celebration for women at U-M for many years.
The tradition of Lantern Night stopped in the 1960s, but records of it live on in the archives, and you can find out more by exploring the Michigan Daily Digital Archives, the Women’s League records, and the Michigan Alumnus magazine collection!
📸: Dept. of Physical Education for Women records, and the Snow Family papers
#WomensHistoryMonth #UMich #StudentLife #LanternNight #DidYouKnow
Did you know that U-M had a historical tradition called “Lantern Night?”
U-M’s Lantern Night traces its origins to the very first Field Day held by women at U-M, in honor of the new women’s athletic field in 1910!
That Field Day featured a picnic, an archery tournament, folk dancing, field hockey, tennis, “fancy marching” where women formed the shape of a block “M,” as well as singing, and a crackling bonfire. It was a success, according to the Michigan Daily, and quickly became an annual event!
By 1912, it also included a “grand lantern march” where women at U-M gathered to carry lanterns across Palmer Field in the evening.
Many of these aspects of Field Day appear to have stopped during World War I, but the lantern march was revived in 1919 as U-M’s official “Lantern Night,” during which women in U-M’s senior class would pass lighted lanterns to women in the junior class, symbolically “passing on the torch.”
(Women in the junior class would then pass flower-covered hoops to the sophomore class, in turn!)
Over time, Lantern Night grew to include things like a dance pageant featuring the myth of Persephone, athletic awards, and a singing competition! It was an important yearly celebration for women at U-M for many years.
The tradition of Lantern Night stopped in the 1960s, but records of it live on in the archives, and you can find out more by exploring the Michigan Daily Digital Archives, the Women’s League records, and the Michigan Alumnus magazine collection!
📸: Dept. of Physical Education for Women records, and the Snow Family papers
#WomensHistoryMonth #UMich #StudentLife #LanternNight #DidYouKnow
Did you know that our Athletics Archivist was recently featured on the trivia TV show “The Floor” with Rob Lowe?
“An interest in trivia and a career in librarianship really support each other,” Athletics Archivist jay winkler says. “I’ve always had a brain that picks up on and remembers small details, and I think that in the type of work that we do, that attention to detail is really important.”
On the show, jay specialized in trivia questions about Congress, as a political science major. But he also loves trivia about U-M athletics–especially U-M Olympic history, which is one of his favorite topics!
His time on “The Floor” was filmed in Ireland, and his favorite takeaways from the experience were all of the friendships he made with other trivia experts, including several Michigan alums.
“A lot of us are in a trivia league,” he says. “We all talk about trivia basically every day. That’s been the coolest part.”
#UMich #StaffHighlight #Trivia #Archivist #TheFloor
Did you know that our Athletics Archivist was recently featured on the trivia TV show “The Floor” with Rob Lowe?
“An interest in trivia and a career in librarianship really support each other,” Athletics Archivist jay winkler says. “I’ve always had a brain that picks up on and remembers small details, and I think that in the type of work that we do, that attention to detail is really important.”
On the show, jay specialized in trivia questions about Congress, as a political science major. But he also loves trivia about U-M athletics–especially U-M Olympic history, which is one of his favorite topics!
His time on “The Floor” was filmed in Ireland, and his favorite takeaways from the experience were all of the friendships he made with other trivia experts, including several Michigan alums.
“A lot of us are in a trivia league,” he says. “We all talk about trivia basically every day. That’s been the coolest part.”
#UMich #StaffHighlight #Trivia #Archivist #TheFloor